Fabric of Slavery

Large-scale forced (child) labour in India's spinning mills

Dec 2016

New research by the India Committee of Netherlands (ICN) shows that various forms of modern slavery, including child slavery, are found in more than 90% of the spinning mills in South India. These spinning mills produce yarn for India, Bangladeshi and Chinese garment factories that produce for the Western market.
The report Fabric of Slavery exposes the scale on which young girls and women are enslaved by employers who withhold their wages or lock them up in company-controlled hostels. They work long hours, face sexual harassment and do not even earn the minimum wage. Gerard Oonk, director of ICN: "We have raised the issue for five years now, but even to us the scale of this problem came as a shock."
Download: ‘Fabric of Slavery’ (1 mB) .

Photo essay: How TN textile mills force girls into bonded labour to 'earn dowry'(The News Minute)The banned ‘Sumangali Scheme’ still thrives in Tamil Nadu, albeit under new names....A recent report from “India Committee of the Netherlands, December 2016” clearly states that in 351 out of 743 mills, Sumangali is still around. Moral policing, constant surveillance, gender segregation and lack of mobility are in fact offered as perks to families by brokers when they are trying sell employment in mills.

6-2-2017:

Spinning mills of Tamil Nadu: Tales offorced labour and modern day slavery(Perundurai HR Forum)In December 2016, India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), an independent human rights organisation, released a research report titled Fabric of Slavery, that severely indicted the textile spinning mills in Tamil Nadu of practicing what the International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines as ‘Forced labour’. As per the ILO Forced Labour Convention of 1930 (29), which India has ratified, ‘forced labour’ is defined as ‘all work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily’. ICN based its findings on the nine ILO indicators (out of total eleven) under the Convention that apply to spinning mill workers.

13-1-2017:

Report: Widespread child slavery in India’s yarn industry, most victims are Dalits(IDSN)Despite efforts to curb child slavery in India’s spinning mills the practice continues and 60% of the victims are Dalits – says newly released report.
The India Committee on the Netherlands (ICN) report ‘Fabric of Slavery – Large-scale forced (child) labour in India’s spinning mills’ shows that various forms of modern slavery, including child slavery, are found in more than 90% of the spinning mills in South India. These spinning mills produce yarn for Indian, Bangladeshi and Chinese garment factories that produce garments for the Western market.

8-1-2017:

The warp and weft of exploitation(The Hindu)Women lured by the Sumangali scheme to work in textile mills endure harassment, exploitation and even sexual abuse....The recently-released Fabric of Slavery report of the India Committee of Netherlands (ICN) gives expression to the exploitation in the mills through facts and percentages. The report, based on a study in 743 spinning mills in Dindigul, Tirupur, Namakkal, and Erode districts, says: “Young women workers face intimidation, sexually coloured remarks and harassment, which they can hardly escape.” The study was conducted between July and December 2015. Eight researchers and 40 volunteers interviewed 2,286 workers from these mills and held focus group discussions.

28-12-2016:

Child slavery shocking in India’s textile mills(The Hans India)Various forms of slavery, including child labour, are present in more than 90 per cent of south India's spinning mills which produce yarn for Western brands, researchers said, calling for mapping of supply chains and tougher audits. The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organisation, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country.

24-12-2016:

Scale of child slavery in India's spinning mills 'shocking': research(Dawn)Various forms of slavery, including child labour, are present in more than 90 per cent of south India's spinning mills which produce yarn for Western brands, researchers said, calling for mapping of supply chains and tougher audits.
The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organisation, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country.

22-12-2016:

Scale of child slavery ‘shocking’ in India’s spinning mills: Research(The Indian Express)Various forms of slavery, including child labour, are present in more than 90 percent of south India’s spinning mills which produce yarn for Western brands, researchers said, calling for mapping of supply chains and tougher audits. The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organisation, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country.

22-12-2016:

Scale of child slavery "shocking" in India's spinning mills - research(Reuters India)Various forms of slavery, including child labour, are present in more than 90 percent of south India’s spinning mills which produce yarn for Western brands, researchers said, calling for mapping of supply chains and tougher audits.
The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organisation, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country.

22-12-2016:

Scale of child slavery “shocking” in India’s spinning mills – research(World Breaking News)Various forms of slavery, including child labour, are present in more than 90 percent of south India’s spinning mills which produce yarn for Western brands, researchers said, calling for mapping of supply chains and tougher audits. The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organisation, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country.

Dec 2016:

Forced Labour in the Textile and Garment Sector in Tamil Nadu, South India - Strategies for Redress(Corporate Accountability Research)This report is about the grievances of young women, predominantly from disadvantaged Dalit
and low caste communities, who are recruited from remote and impoverished rural villages to
work in textile mills and garment factories (herein the ‘garment sector’) in a number of districts
of Tamil Nadu in South India. The report discusses the issues facing these young women, many
of whom are employed under bonded and forced labour conditions, commonly referred to as
‘Sumangali’ schemes and ‘camp labour arrangements’. The terms Sumangali, camp labour or
camp labour coolies are frequently used interchangeably. The term ‘Sumangali’ is used to refer
to a form of bonded labour where young women have a fixed-term contract and a significant
portion of the legal minimum wage and/or other payments to which they are entitled are withheld
until they have completed the contract. The term ‘camp labour’ refers to arrangements
whereby workers live in company-controlled hostels with no freedom of movement so that they
will be available to work on call, will not seek work in other factories or mills and will be deterred
from joining a union. Both Sumangali and camp labour are forms of forced labour. In this report
we use the term forced labour to encompass both practices.

Flawed Fabrics

The abuse of girls and women workers in the South Indian textile industry

Oct 2014

Flawed Fabrics – a new report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) – shows that workers are still facing appalling labour conditions that amount to forced labour in the export-oriented Southern Indian textile industry. The women and girls who work in the spinning mills of Tamil Nadu, some as young as 15, are mostly recruited from marginalised Dalit communities in impoverished rural areas. They are forced to work long hours for low wages. They live in very basic company-run hostels and are hardly ever allowed to leave the company compound. The researched spinning mills have Western companies and Bangladesh garment factories among their customers, including C&A, Mothercare, HanesBrands, Sainsbury's and Primark.
Download: ‘Flawed Fabrics’ (3 mB) .[Download in German: ‘Löchrige Kleider’ (4 mB) ]

Rampant abuse in Tamil Nadu's spinning mills: study(Deutsche Welle)Thousands of poor girls and young women in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu are being exploited by spinning mills, a recent study claims. Deutsche Welle takes a look at the harsh working conditions they face.

ILO asks Indian Government to react to statement by ITUC on forced labour in textile industry(ICN)ILO’s Committee of Experts on the Application on Conventions and Recommendations has requested the Indian government to react to observations by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Garment Labour Union (GLU) about forced labour and other labour rights violations in the textile industry in Tamil Nadu affecting a large number of young women employed in spinning mills.

12-12-2015:

Twilight children(The Hindu) Children and adolescents, mostly girls, toil in factories in conditions of near-slavery. This is the hidden face of manufacturing units in the flourishing industrial hubs of Tamil Nadu.
Until the 1980s, spinning factories mainly employed adult male workers in secure conditions of employment, with lawful wages and basic social security.

9-8-2015:

Girls duped into bonded labor in India’s textile mills(Taipei Times)Tens of thousands of these women come from poor, illiterate communities, whose families are duped into sending their daughters on three-year work schemes that are promoted as an easy way to earn dowries.

Girl workers physically, sexually exploited, reveals survey(The Hindu)A study on the health status of adolescent girls working in the textile mills under the controversial ‘Sumangali Scheme’ or ‘Thirumagal Thirumana Thittam’ has revealed that most of them working in hostile working conditions are being physically and sexually exploited.

New Sumangali guidance document online
(Fair Wear Foundation)To provide guidance to its members, FWF has drawn a document on the risks related to the Sumangali Scheme and India's Bonded Labour System.

27-2-2015:

Dalit Girl Found Hanging in Textile Mill (The New Indian Express)A 19-year-old dalit girl was found dead in a suspicious manner inside a bathroom of a private textile mill near Vedasanthur, Dindigul district on Wednesday.While police claimed the girl committed suicide as she could not bear her stomach pain, NGOs have raised doubts over the death.

2-2-2015:

Addressing Modern Slavery in Tamil Nadu Textile Industry - Feasibility Study Report(Freedom Fund)In response to continued evidence of human rights violations in the textile industry in Tamil
Nadu, the Freedom Fund and C&A Foundation decided to carry out a feasibility study focused
on issues related to modern slavery within the supply chain in the sector. The objective of this
study was to better understand the totality of issues to be addressed and to develop a plan for a
potential “hotspot” intervention. The feasibility study was tasked with preparing a recommended
design for a potential strategic intervention to progressively and systematically eliminate modern
slavery in the Tamil Nadu textile industry.

Abused Workers Make "Flawed Fabrics": Garment Makers of South India Under Global Watch(NewClothMarketOnline.com)There is disturbing news for textile manufacturers of the country that must put them on a high alert, especially if they are engaged in export related production activity and not following the global practices with regard to well-being of their labourforce.
The Netherlands based Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) – in association with India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) – has come out with its latest investigative report on the Tamil Nadu textile and garment industry. The research was conducted to find out the current status of compliance of labour-related global standards by leading export oriented manufacturing units.

15-11-2014:

The cotton in your clothes may be made by girls aged 11, paid £6 a month(The Times)Girls as young as 11 are being paid as little as £6 a month to produce the raw materials used to make garments for sale in Britain, an investigation by The Times has found.
Girls are sold to cotton spinning mills in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, locked in for weeks on end and forced to work relentless hours for pitiful wages in dangerous conditions.

H&M Blacklists Indian Spinning Mill After Allegations of Forced Labor(Ecouterre)H&M has blacklisted a southern Indian textile mill following allegations of rampant labor- and human-rights abuses in the the country’s garment hub of Tamil Nadu. Flawed Fabrics, a report released by Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), in collaboration with the India Committee of the Netherlands last Tuesday, details the deplorable conditions that are endemic to the region’s 1,600 mills, most of which are staffed by girls and young women. Compiled using a mix of desk research and in-depth interviews with 150 workers at five different mills, the research paints a grim picture of the supply chains of some of the world’s best-known brands, which, in addition to H&M, include C&A, Hanes, Mothercare, and Primark.

Tamil Nadu’s garment workers ‘modern-day slaves’: Dutch Report(Down to Earth)A report released on Tuesday by the Amsterdam-based Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) has revealed that workers in Tamil Nadu’s textile mills work under appalling conditions, almost equivalent to modern-day slavery.

29-10-2014:

Indian Textile Mills Accused Of Forced Labour(Vogue)Five textile mills in the Tamil Nadu area of India - linked indirectly to several high-profile high-street retailers including H&M, Primark and C&A - have been accused of forced labour in a report entitled Flawed Fabrics.
The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) are responsible for the report, which was compiled "through a mixture of desk research and interviews on the ground with workers employed at five Tamil Nadu spinning mills". It concludes "that several core labour rights are being violated. Girls and young women are being lured from their home villages by false promises and are working under appalling conditions amounting to forced labour" - a practice known as the Sumangali Scheme.

29-10-2014:

Report Links Brands to 'Slavery' in Indian Mills(Women's Wear Daily)A new report alleging “modern-day slavery” in five Indian textile mills prompted at least three of the Western retailers — H&M, Primark and C&A — linked to the factories on Tuesday to pledge to take either punitive or remedial action.
The report, Flawed Fabrics, was released by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations and the India Committee of the Netherlands, two human and labor rights nongovernmental organizations based in the Netherlands, detailing alleged egregious abuses found at Indian textile spinning mills in Tamil Nadu, considered a major hub in the global textile and knitwear industry.

29-10-2014:

Super Spinning Mills denies H&M charge(The Hindu)Super Spinning Mills, which was blacklisted by Hennes & Mauritz AB of Sweden for violating core labour rights, on Tuesday, said it followed the labour laws of Tamil Nadu, and these are verified by the Labour Department.
Reacting to a Bloomberg report on the textile mill’s blacklisting following a study by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands, a company representative said, “We are denying the allegations of SOMO...."

Primark, H&M factories hit in teen girl abuse report(NLTimes.nl) Hannesbrands, C&A, Sainsbury’s, Primark and Mothercare have been linked to spinning mills that still have appalling working conditions. This is evident from a report done by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN). The report shows that workers are still facing awful working conditions in the Southern Indian textile industry.

Most Dutch and international companies importing garments from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu refuse to be transparent about if and how they tackle bonded labour at their suppliers. An estimated 100,000 young children and teenage girls are victims of 'bonded labour' or 'modern slavery'. These girls – mostly Dalit ('outcaste') – live in hostels, with little freedom of movement, underpaid for long working-days and working under unhealthy conditions.

This is an important conclusion of the paper Small Steps, Big Challenges - Update on (tackling) exploitation of girls and young women in the garment supply chain of South India that FNV Mondiaal (international department of Dutch trade union confederation) and the India Committee of the Netherlands have just published. The report discusses the current situation in Tamil Nadu, the limited improvements after previous reports and the responses of 21 Dutch and international garment brands on the question of what they do to combat the abuses. It also discusses the activities of various joint initiatives by companies and other organisations.
[read more]

Maid in India

European and US garment brands and retailers have failed in their attempts to structurally improve labour conditions at their suppliers in Tamil Nadu, South India. Despite corporate promises and a range of well-meaning initiatives, workers, mostly very young women, continue to suffer exploitative working conditions. Up until today, thousands of women in the garment and textile industry in Tamil Nadu work under recruitment and employment schemes that amount to bonded labour. These are the findings by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) presented in the report “Maid in India” (0.9 mB) , published April 25, 2012.

Poorly Paid Garment Workers Clothed in Worry(The New Indian Express)With schools reopening in a few weeks, Veena, employed in a garment factory near Mysore Road, is a worried mother.
From the few thousands she will earn this month, she needs to buy stationery and uniforms for her two children in high school. This apart, she has grocery and travel expenses daily - all this to be met within 2,000.

15-5-2014:

Behind the showroom: the hidden reality of India’s garment workers(FIDH)Labour rights abuses and grave human rights violations, including bonded labour, are enduring on India’s garment factory work floors, said FIDH in a report launched today in New Delhi. To conceal indecent working conditions, garment factory managers and owners deploy extremely well-orchestrated show-responses to external visits by auditors, foreign buyers and NGOs alike.

11-5-2014:

'Rights Abuse Rife in TN Garment Sector'(New Indian Express)The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), working on human rights issues, has alleged that labour rights abuse and human rights violations, including forms of bonded labour, are prevalent in the garment factories in India.

5-4-2014:

International garment brands not transparent about labour exploitation by their Indian suppliers: report(Down to Earth)An international organisation working for welfare of workers has drawn attention to the hazardous and exploitative working conditions of young girls working for the garment sector in Tamil Nadu.
An estimated 100,000 children and teenage girls are working in extremely oppressive conditions in the spinning mills and garment factories in Tamil Nadu, according to a report released by FNV Mondiaal (international department of Dutch trade union confederation) and the India Committee of the Netherlands. Most of the girls belong to dalit communities and live in hostels, with little freedom of movement.

4-4-2014:

Garment brands not transparent on tackling bonded labour in India(FNV Mondiaal/ICN)Most Dutch and international companies importing garments from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu refuse to be transparent about if and how they tackle bonded labour at their suppliers. An estimated 100,000 young children and teenage girls are victims of 'bonded labour' or 'modern slavery'. These girls – mostly Dalit ('outcaste’) – live in hostels, with little freedom of movement, underpaid for long working-days and working under unhealthy conditions.
This is an important conclusion of the paper Small Steps, Big Challenges - Update on (tackling) exploitation of girls and young women in the garment supply chain of South India that FNV Mondiaal (international department of Dutch trade union confederation) and the India Committee of the Netherlands have just published. The report discusses the current situation in Tamil Nadu, the limited improvements after previous reports and the responses of 21 Dutch and international garment brands on the question of what they do to combat the abuses. It also discusses the activities of various joint initiatives by companies and other organisations.

Fact Sheet Forced Labour: Focus on the role of buying companies(SOMO)Nobody should be forced to work against their will.
Any form of forced labour is a grave violation of human
rights. However, in many parts of the world men, women
and children are trapped in jobs that they were forced
into by coercion or deception. Often, they cannot leave
these jobs.
This fact sheet is about forced labour in the textile and
garment supply chain. It offers examples of different
types of forced and bonded labour. Recommendations
are made for garment buying companies to recognise
cases of forced labour in their supply chains and to act
upon these practices.

Young Women Exploitation in Tirupur Textile & Garment Industries with reference to Sumangali Scheme(International Journal of Engineering and Management Research)After agriculture, the Textile and Clothing (T&C) Industry is the second largest sector in the Indian economy in terms of output, foreign exchange earnings and providing employment and employment-generating Industry in India. The latest estimates reveals that the direct employment of over 35 million people are engaged with Textile and Garment Industries across India, Tirupur and nearby Coimbatore have long been the centre of a textile and garment industry supplying a national market. Now, Tirupur is declared as a corporation from being just a municipality town, because of its demographic and geographical growth. The Textile Industry in Tamil Nadu particularly Tirupur has been reported to be exploiting young women workers in the spinning and textile units under what is called the “Sumangali Scheme.”

Time for transparency in the garment industry(SOMO/ICN)It is difficult to find out where exactly clothing brands source their products. Although, according to international guidelines, enterprises have to map their supply chain and make this information accessible to stakeholders, most companies simply do not come forward with this kind of information. SOMO and ICN elaborate on why the garment industry has to become more transparent.

Mar 2013:

Time for Transparency: The case of the Tamil Nadu textile and garment industry(SOMO/ICN)This paper argues in favour of enhanced transparency in the global garment supply chain. Building on recent work on the appalling employment and labour conditions in the Tamil Nadu (India) textile and garment industry, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) build the case for substantial supply chain transparency.

Tailored for Tyranny(FountainInk.in)Tirupur is India’s knitwear district, a small town in Tamil Nadu that exports garments worth thousands of crores every year. But success is built on a systematic exploitation of workers who are treated as bonded labour, not paid minimum wages and made to work inhuman hours to produce the brands that everyone wears.

Sumangali Scheme(SAVE)Short film (26 min.) about bonded (child) labour in the South Indian garment industry.

11-10-2012:

Employment or Exploitation: Are suppliers to retailers like Walmart, Carrefour sweatshops?(The Economic Times)It isn't often that the biggest rivals in the world of retail - Walmart and Carrefour - find themselves on the same side of a negotiations table.
That they did so one afternoon early last month at the old-wordly headquarters of the Southern India Mills' Association, a body of yarnmakers based in Coimbatore that accounts for half of India's yarn exports, is a pointer to the heady challenge facing them and the mills.

Students join campaign against exploitation of poor girls(The Hindu)The ongoing campaign against ‘Sumangali Scheme,’ which is being followed by many textile and spinning units in the western districts of Tamil Nadu that has ruined the health of a few hundreds girls from southern districts, gained significant momentum on Thursday with college students joining hands with the organisations fighting against this system.

18-9-2012:

Working in India’s Textile Mills and the Sumangali Scheme
(TheWorld.org)Indian textile mills increasingly rely on young women and girls for labor. Many of the young female workers sign contracts known as the Sumangali scheme. The mills withhold part of their paychecks and then give them a lump sum for a dowry four years later. But if the workers leave before the four years are up, they lose all of the money. Michael May has the story.

Bonded (child) labour in the South Indian Garment Industry: An Update of Debate and Action on the 'Sumangali Scheme'(SOMO/ICN)In a year time, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) have published two major reports documenting the exploitation of Dalit girls in the South Indian garment industry that produces for European and US markets.
This update zooms in on on-going abuses in the Tamil Nadu garment industry, as well as on the debate and actions to tackle the ‘Sumangali Scheme’, that is fuelled by the findings and recommendations of the SOMO and ICN reports.

21-6-2012:

Tamil Nadu ‘source’ of sex trafficking: US(The Asian Age)The US has accused India of being a “source, destination and transit country” for forced labour and sex trafficking. An official report released by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton refers to the Sumangali scheme in TN, in which employers pay young women a lump sum to be used for dowry at the end of a three-year term.

21-6-2012:

Tamil Nadu Programme update - Supporting young women workers in the textile and garment sector of Tamil Nadu, India(Ethical Trading Initiative)Textile and garment manufacturing and production in Tamil Nadu, India, has grown exponentially since the 1980s and now exports globally. An estimated 500,000 people work in the region’s textile and garment industry and women workers are estimated to be about 60% of the workforce, mostly in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs.
Reports by non-governmental organisations such as the India-based Social Awareness and Voluntary Education (SAVE) and Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), the Dutch Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and Anti-Slavery International (ASI) brought to light concerns about labour practices in the region's garment industry, centred around Tirupur. Concerns have been expressed about these practices, particularly for vulnerable migrant workers in schemes known locally as Sumangali or Camp-Coolie.

Slavery On The High Street(Anti-Slavery International)New research from Anti-Slavery International exposes how top UK high street brands are selling clothing made by girls in slavery in southern India.
You can download the report in the PDF format here, or read the press release.

1-6-2012:

The price of cheap clothes?(BBC Radio 4)A report by Anti-Slavery International claims that Indian textile firms, which supply some of Britain's biggest high street retailers, are operating near slave labour conditions.

31-5-2012:

Caste Off(Good.is)One day in 2007, a stranger came to JJ Nagar village in South India’s Tamil Nadu state, promising girls from the village a chance to change their lives. The man went from house to house offering to sign up any girl over 14 to a three-year term in a yarn factory. At the end of the period, the young women would earn bonuses of $800 (about a year’s salary), an almost unimaginable sum for a girl from JJ Nagar. The village is a six-hour drive from Coimbatore, the state’s second-largest city, but the prosperity of the new India and its almost double-digit growth rate hasn’t arrived here.

8-5-2012:

Understanding the Sumangali Scheme in Tamil Nadu's Textile & Garment Industry(Fair Labor Association)In May 2012, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and Solidaridad-South & South East Asia released a research report on the Sumangali Scheme - the practice of paying young women a lump sum to be used for a dowry at the end of a three-year term. Written by Solidaridad with support from the FLA, this report provides an overview of the Sumangali Scheme, presents stakeholder views, and offers the perspectives of some of the women and their families who are affected by this practice.

Still 'Captured by Cotton'?

– Update on exploitation of women workers in the garment industry in Tamil Nadu, South India

Mar 2012

The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee
of the Netherlands (ICN) presented this sneak preview of their upcoming report on labour
abuses in the South Indian garment industry. The two-pager preview is published on the
occasion of a meeting of the Sumangali Bonded Labour group of the UK-based Ethical Trade
Initiative (ETI). SOMO and ICN call upon garment brands to take their responsibility to ensure
that workers’ rights are respected throughout their supply chain.
In May 2011 SOMO and ICN published the report Captured by Cotton – Exploited Dalit girls produce
garments in India for European and US markets. The report uncovered troubling evidence that
products for big garment brands and retailers are being made by girls from Dalit and low caste
background under exploitative working conditions in Tamil Nadu, South India. In April 2012,
publication of a follow-up report by SOMO and ICN is scheduled. New field research has been
conducted, including interviews with nearly 200 women workers. The new report examines the current
situation at the four garment manufacturers originally investigated for Captured by Cotton. Following
the first report, SOMO and ICN have looked at what the industry promised to undertake to curb labour
abuses, what has actually been achieved, and to what effect.

Captured by Cotton

Exploited Dalit Girls Produce Garments in India
for European and US Markets

May 2011

Big garment brands and retailers have their products made under exploitative and unhealthy conditions by girls in Tamil Nadu, South India. The girls, mostly younger than 18 and from a Dalit background are employed under the Sumangali Scheme. In its worst form, this employment scheme stands for bonded labour, as described in ‘Captured by Cotton’ (1.6 mB) , a report published by SOMO and ICN.
The report features case studies of four large manufacturers: Eastman Global Clothing Exports, KPR Mill, Bannari Amman, and SSM India. These enterprises produce for Bestseller (e.g. Only, Jack & Jones), C&A, GAP, Diesel, Inditex (e.g. Zara), Marks & Spencer, Primark, Tommy Hilfiger, and many other European and US garment companies. A number of companies have undertaken steps towards the elimination of the Sumangali Scheme, but abusive labour practices remain widespread.